Regardless of your reason for celebrating the season, I wish everyone all the best. May whatever you're doing be safe and enjoyable. Me, I'm heading up to the rez to stuff my face with TWO (count 'em) turkey dinners tomorrow. Thanks, Jesus!
If I don't post here again before NYE, I wish you that well also. Still not sure exactly what I'm doing, but I'm sure it'll involve good brews, good tunes, and good buds.
All the best.
I thought it was a pretty rockin' year for new music. Feel free to post your favourites.
1. The Icarus Line - Penance Soiree
If anyone said rock is dead, then this album is definitely the defibrillator. These dudes from L.A. channel the great classics such as the Stooges, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Nirvana, the Stones, G n' R and the Velvet Underground - and put their own authentic stamp on it. What you have here is a bunch of buddies who
grew up fans of awesome music, and decided to put what they learned over the years into practice. Raw layers of killer guitar; huge, chunky basslines; and smokin' drum rhythms all laced together with what's probably the best rock n' roll singing out there today. Lyrical content? What else - partying, drugs, sex, despair, love, and everything else that comes up in your early to mid-twenties.
2. Mastodon - Leviathan
This one speaks to the guitar player in me. I can't think of many other albums in recent years that have so many insanely heavy and melodic riffs and fills.
Each song is like a delicious cake filled with scrumptious little surprise candies for your ears. It may be a little heavy for some of you, but nonetheless it's nearly flawless rock-metal that is fiercely addictive.
3. Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine
Sophomore album from the rock scene's next "it" band. Hard to believe, but this band is just two dudes from Toronto, thrashing away on drums, a bass, and synths. Their sound is huge, and apparently their live show is a force to be reckoned with (I'm seeing them later this month). DFA '79 manages to lay down a very heavy sound with lots of catchy hooks and melodies. Expect to see and hear a lot from these guys in the next year.
4. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
2004 was definitely all about heavy music for me. While I generally dig all genres, albums like Miss Machine dominated my ears this year. Must be an age
thing - the quarter-life crisis in full swing. Anyway, DEP does what they do best on this hugely acclaimed album, and that's rip conventional music to shreds.
Technical, loud, and much more vocally diverse than their past efforts. These guys and Mastodon add a fresh new element to heavy music that even
non-metalheads can dig, due in large part to the musicianship.
5. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
The Coal Miner's Daughter's big comeback, thanks to a lot of help from the grossly talented Jack White. I don't listen to a lot of country, but I REALLY dug
this album, probably because of all the rock elements injected by Mr. White. Her voice really is majestic, and to hear it on top of some pretty cool riffs and
arrangements is totally sweet.
6. Kanye West - The College Dropout
I guess this is the obligatory "hip-hop" or "other" selection in this list. But as far as pop albums go, this was definitely the cream of this year's crop. While many recent garbage hip-hop albums have been about getting "CRUNK" or some other inane bullshit, Kanye raps about much more universal day-to-day
problems that we can all identify with. Plus he produced the entire thing himself, which is pretty awesome.
7. Sparta - Porcelain
The emo darlings return, kicking it up a notch over their last effort. It took me a little while to get into this one, but after a few listens it's apparent these dudes have carved out a very unique sound and follow through with each song. A little bit punk, a little bit pop, but all rock. Hard to believe these guys were the core of At the Drive-in, but they still rule.
8. Eagles of Death Metal - Peace, Love, and Death Metal
Nothing like the Eagles, and a far cry from death metal. What's here is a collection of great garage-rock tunes. Most of them can make you dance.
Not the most profound music in the world, but a very enjoyable party record.
9. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
Another dose of psychedelic punk from these NYC legends. I didn't like this as much as the last one (Murray Street), but it's a great album by a classic band that has a very deep understanding of both popular and "marginal" music. Again, these old folks prove that they're the world's only good jamband.
10. Jay-Z vs. Danger Mouse - The Grey Album
Not an actual release, but a bootleg that was all the rage on the Internet in 2004. For those unaware, it's Jay-Z's Black Album remixed by DJ Danger Mouse with elements from the Beatles' White Album. At first I thought it was some of the cheesiest shit I ever heard in my life - but then I found I couldn't stop
listening to it. Check it out if you get a chance - it's out there somewhere!
That's it - here's to an equally stellar 2005!
Football (and the Bills' killer playoff run)
Pizza
Beer
That's about it. Just something to put here for the time being. Stay tuned for the top 10 albums of 2004.
You may have seen them around. They vary in age, race, class, gender, and even HEIGHT! They walk the urban streets, eyes set steadfast and forward - oblivious to all surrounding sounds. Where are they going? What are they doing here? What do they know that we don't? They have a certain air of pretension around them - like we minions are too futile to even spark the most prolific of conservations with them.
There is only one distinguishing characteristic that sets them apart from the rest of us. Bearded, bespectacled, or lip-glossed, these creatures all have that particular feature that we've all come to recognize so well. And now I am one of them.
I wear the white earbuds. There is a thin, white cable that stretches from the ears into my jacket or pants pocket. Now you know what I'm talking about. You've seen the commercials, heard the raves, seen the massive billboards. And I have succumbed. But gladly.
I have an iPod.
20GB of righteous tunes in the palm of my hand. Although I'm a trendy Mac user, I disregarded the iPod for the longest time as a kitchy gadget that was nothing more than a hipster, yuppie status symbol. But now that I have one, I couldn't have been more wrong. Do you realize how immense 20GB of music is? And that's not even the biggest size of iPod you can get. If you had told me ten years ago that I could one day hold 5,000 righteous tunes in the palm of my hand, I would have punched you right in the face.
So yeah, I'm one of the new urban aliens. Don't ask me for change on the street. Leave me alone at the store. I'm busy. Rocking out, as usual. Now I hate to champion such a technological novelty in this space, but I really dig the iPod - it's changed the way I listen to music.
If you have five bills or so, go pick one up. Just added my entire Queens of the Stone Age catalogue to it tonight. Tomorrow is A Tribe Called Quest.